Chapter 1
Ingather
"… you think they would've woken up by now."
"Give it a rest! Geez, we didn't gripe about you when you Arrived!"
"Just because you're the oldest doesn't give you the right to boss me around!"
You slowly began to make out two voices bickering back and forth. Struggling to open your eyes, you gave up in exhaustion. Instead, you were forced to listen to the heated volley continue. The unceasing squabbling was starting to make your head pound.
"Look, I've been here the longest, and I-"
"So what? You know nothing more than the rest of us!"
"Guys, guys! I think they're coming to!"
A third voice had joined the conversation. All of a sudden finding the energy to slightly raise your eyelids, you looked up blearily. A pair of baby blue eyes stared back.
"uh.. wha…?" You tried to speak while your mind made an effort to wake up. You glanced down, finding yourself in a comfy striped sweater. The sleeves tickled your fingertips. Pulling at it, you frowned in puzzlement. Had you been wearing this before?
"Welcome!" The blue eyes belonged to a petite teenage girl. It took you a few seconds to notice she was also wearing a striped shirt. The girl beamed down at your blank expression, "It's so nice to see a new face around here!"
"Speak for yourself." One of the original voices grumbled. You craned your neck around to see another girl slouched in a corner. She had short brown hair that slightly curled over her shoulders. Noticing your stare, she quirked an eyebrow. "Morning Sleeping Beauty. How nice of you to grace us with your presence."
"At least be slightly pleasant!" The male next to her snapped. He looked somewhat older than the other two girls, you guessed mid-twenties. The way he and the girl glared at each other, you also assumed they had been the two arguing before.
The man gave you an apologetic grin. His hair and scruff gave him the appearance of Markliplier. "Sorry about her." He gave a nod towards the brunette, "Her mouth is like a loaded gun pointed at everyone in the room."
"I can hear you, you know." She sniped back, clearly unoffended by his remarks. "And for the record, my mouth is only a gun when somebody pulls the trigger." She aimed a profound look at 'Mark'.
"Sooo, basically just you." He shrugged. Her remarks seemed to roll of him just as easily. As they launched into more bickering, you turned back to the blue-eyed girl next to you. She clearly wasn't bothered by the two's never-ending banter.
"Don't worry about them." She assured you, "They've been like that since the day they met the other."
Her expression was just about glowing. You doubted if you had ever seen another human being smile as much. Still, she gave off a calming aura that left you at ease, and her eyes were soft with kindness. You instantly decided you liked this girl.
Sitting into a more comfortable position, you felt your head spin. Black spots appeared in your vision as blood quickly rushed to your brain. "Careful!" The girl cautioned, steadying you, "Arriving can give a couple nasty side effects. You might feel a little woozy at first, but you'll shake it off in no time!"
"Woozy" was the understatement of the century. Your head hammered mercilessly against your forehead, but you did your best to ignore it.
"Where am I?" you asked, trying to distract yourself from the pain. Before now, you hadn't paid attention to your surroundings. Taking a glance around, there wasn't much to see. It was box-like, with four grey wall, a grey ceiling, and (surprise, surprise) a grey floor. No doors, no windows. In a way, it reminded you of a prison.
"We're not exactly sure, but it's been nicknamed the VOID." She shrugged, "There's not much to on from that. The only thing that changes here is us. New arrivals like yourself Arrive in the blink of an eye. Literally. One second the floor's empty and then BOOM, there's a human on the ground. Totally out of the blue."
You nodded, still checking out the VOID's inhabitants. Besides the blue-eyes, Mark, and the brunette, there were two more people. They stood together inaudibly conversing, giving you a fleeting look every once in a while.
Blue-eyes studied you intently while you absorbed everything. Pointing it out to her, she blushed, clearly embarrassed you had noticed. Upon asking why she was doing so, she replied, "Well, it's just that you haven't reacted the way the rest of us did. Some were really freaking out, yelling and screaming at the top of our lungs. Others broke down and cried. I'm pretty sure all of us were in shock after our Arrival." She cocked her head at you, her eyebrows forming a quizzical expression. It was as if you had started a joke, and she was waiting for the punchline. "You've been handling this situation very well. Frankly, I'm impressed."
There was a pause, as though she was waiting for something, possibly a response from you. If that were the case, she received nothing. You clenched your fists, grasping your sweater. Her remark disturbed you for reasons you couldn't describe. Why weren't you breaking down right about now? Everything she had told you up to now was acknowledged with a steady understanding. You'd already come to terms that this wasn't a dream and accepted that this was reality. Was that normal? You touched your chest. Panic, fear, disbelief, hopelessness. You were devoid of all these feelings. All emotion had been sucked from you and replaced with an empty cavity. The hollow feeling gave you chills.
Realizing you wouldn't be answering anytime soon, the girl's face broke into a smile yet again. "Anyhow, I think introductions have been put off long enough! My name's Kisa, age seventeen. I was the second to Arrive in the VOID. Howdy do, and nice to meet you!" she gave a small delicate laugh, which filled you with warmth. Maybe you weren't as dead inside as you had thought. You mumbled your name back to Kisa.
"'_', huh? That's adorable!" she giggled. Pulling you to your feet, she brought you over to Mark and the brunette. "Hey you two, say hi to '_'!" Kisa introduced you as you gave an awkward wave. Mark waved back. The brunette's only reaction was to sigh and cross her arms. Ignoring his companion's crude response, Mark shook your hand. His firm grip took you by surprise. "Sup '_'?" he grinned, "The name's Hero. I would say it's a pleasure to meet you but-" he gestured around at the room, "-it's hard to say that when you're stuck in here. As Kisa may or may not have told you, I was the first to Arrive in the VOID. Fun, huh?"
A snort came from the brunette. She swept her hair back, catching your attention. "I suppose I should introduce myself as well then, huh?" she asked, more to herself than anyone else, "It's Demina. Feel free to remember that because I don't like repeating myself. It's a hassle."
The way Demina stated it gave the impression that she considered you a hassle. Wonderful. Before you could stop yourself, you blurted, "Seeing as my only purpose in life is to please you, it's no problem at all." Hero seemed to choke on his spit, and Kisa looked at you as though you were insane. Demina didn't say anything, but she sneered before turning again to ignore you. You mentally reminded yourself to avoid conversation with her later at all costs.
"What's the newbie's name?" Another voice asked, coming up from behind you. Twisting around, you saw the two girls from earlier, side by side. The question had come from the one on the right.
"This is '_'!" Kisa responded for you, hugging you tightly, "'_', meet Miki."
The girl on the right, (you assumed it was Miki) shook hands like Hero. Her hand was much slimmer, but you could still feel her firm grasp underneath you own fingers. "Hey newbie! Like Kisa said, I'm Miki, the last to Arrive before yourself. If you have any questions or want to talk just ask." Releasing her grip, she added, "Talking is basically the only thing we can do around here."
You nodded solemnly. Clearly these people had been in the VOID for quite some time. That is, if time actually flowed normally here. A dull ache began to form in your head. Why were you here again? The more you tried to recall, the more it slipped from your grasp. Your memories were like water running through your fingers. Struggling to remember, you missed Miki's introduction of the girl beside her. Pretending that you were paying attention, you nodded as Miki finished while inside a swell of dread was rising. Why couldn't you remember?
The last girl pushed up her glasses and nodded back, but said nothing.
"She's a little shy," Miki explained, "but after you get to know her, she comes out of her shell. It's just a matter of time."
More nodding. Now there was a ringing in your ears along with the headache. "I think I'm a little tired." You informed them, "Mind if I take a nap?"
The ringing grew louder.
"Feel free!" Kisa smiled. She guided you to a corner opposite of the others. Trying not to collapse from your inner turmoil, you sat and leaned against the wall. It was cool to the touch. Laying your head down, you closed your eyes. Kisa said something else, but the ringing in your ears drowned out most of her words. Eventually everything seemed to ring, echoing over and over, until there was finally nothing but the quiet.
"We'll still be trapped in here when you open your eyes."
What a cheerful ending to our first chapter! Hopefully it all sort-of made sense to you guys, I put a lot of dialogue and stuff in a short amount of words. The ball is finally gonna get rolling on this story! Like I've said before, I promise to do my best and update every week! It may vary slightly due to school and activities outside Fanfiction. Believe it or not, I have other thing besides writing that demand my attention. If you want, feel free to review. It would be interesting to hear what everyone thinks so far!
Ok, so anyways... the characters. I'll list 'em off for you guys. Each of their usernames were shortened to a similar nickname. [TO THE CHARCTERS: Once again, you guys are awesome!]Here we go:
Kisa - Kaiisa
Demina - Dfsemina
Hero - Xanatos Stones (Yeah doesn't follow my "shortening" pattern, but it's a legit nickname for him!)
Miki - Kamiko Kiyo
And then there's the shy character who's name we haven't figured out yet. You guys will have to wait on them!
Maybe you recognize a couple writers or maybe not. All of them have written super awesome Undertale stories that I recommend 100%. Hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next chapter.
Until next time fellows.
Tsubasa